Adult-film studios throughout the nation have been asked to halt production after a performer tested positive for HIV, a trade group for the industry is saying.

The Free Speech Coalition trade organization, based in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, called for the work stoppage after one of the testing facilities in its system reported one performer had apparently tested positive for HIV, according to a report by the Los Angeles Daily News.

"There was a positive test at one of our testing centers," Diane Duke, the Free Speech Coalition's executive director, said in a statement. "Confirmatory tests are not yet back but we are taking every precaution to protect performers and to determine if there's been any threat to the performer pool. We take the health of our performers very seriously and felt that it was better to err on the side of caution while we determine whether anyone else may have been exposed."

Duke explained additional testing needs to be done in order to try and determine an infection timeline, as well as identify any first-generation partners.

The moratorium follows on the heels of a failed legislative effort to ensure greater workplace protections in the adult film industry.

Assembly Bill 1576 would have required the use of condoms and other barrier protections during production shoots anywhere in California and provided added support for the state's Occupational Safety and Health Act's safety standards.

The state's existing condom use requirement is enforced by Cal/OSHA, though the workplace safety agency generally responds to complaints. Meanwhile, adult film workers rarely file complaints, if they believe studio bosses will retaliate by keeping them from working.

Adult film production has actually been stopped from time to time by the industry when cases of a sexually transmitted infection have either been suspected or confirmed. There were three such moratoriums last year.

Filming in 2004 -- in what was back then an industry mainly centered in the San Fernando Valley -- was brought to a stop after four performers tested positive for HIV, and, as a result, 50 other people were quarantined because of possible exposure.

Since then, the adult film industry has worked to self-regulate and increase testing procedures for performers. Duke has said HIV-positive cases are rare.