Utah Governor Signs Legislation Calling Porn a 'Public Health Crisis'

— -- Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert signed a resolution today that declares porn is an "epidemic" that is creating a "public health crisis" in the state.

The resolution, which is reportedly the first in the nation to declare pornography a public health crisis, addresses a broad range of issues that allegedly arise from the adult entertainment industry.

"Due to advances in technology and the universal availability of the Internet, young children are exposed to what used to be referred to as hard core, but is now considered mainstream, pornography at an alarming rate," the resolution said.

The resolution also states that "pornography normalizes violence and abuse of women and children," among a long list of other grievances.

Todd Weiler, the Republican senator who sponsored the resolution, told ABC News that the resolution came about after the National Center on Sexual Exploitation held a symposium at the U.S. Capitol in July 2015 entitled "Pornography: a Public Health Crisis. How Porn Fuels Sex Trafficking, Child Exploitation, & Sexual Violence."

"We now have the social sciences at least to kind of show what is happening and we now have a whole generation who has grow up with some of the most despicable pornographic images on their computers," Weiler said. "I think most people today know that if they start using something like heroin or meth, they know that they have a risk of becoming addicted to it, but some people don't know that about pornography."

Gov. Herbert said in a statement today that he hopes the legislation will "start an open discussion, bringing its very real dangers to light.”

The governor also signed a bill aimed at combating child pornography. The bill "requires that a computer technician who finds child pornography in the course of the technician's work shall report the finding to law enforcement."

Utah may be one of the most conservative states but according to a Harvard Business School report published in 2009, it's also the No. 1 buyer of porn films.

The Free Speech Coalition, the trade association for the adult entertainment industry, condemned the resolution.

"The Utah bill is an old-fashioned morals bill, not one grounded in science...in fact, actual science shows that viewers of adult entertainment are more likely to hold progressive views on sexuality and women’s rights, to be more educated on sexual health, and access to adult entertainment correlates pretty clearly historically and geographically with declines in sex crime," the association said in a statement. "No reputable, science-based public health organization has labeled pornography a public health crisis."