MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sexual health and safe sex tags could be mandatory in Brazilian underwear

Bras tags encourage self examination for early detection of breast cancer (AP)

Brazil's congress has passed a law that -- if approved by President Dilma Rousseff -- would require sexual health messages to be placed in underwear manufactured and sold in Brazil.

Bras would carry tags encouraging self-examinations for early detection of breast cancer, while underwear would advise men over 40 to get screened for prostate cancer and women to use condoms to prevent cervical cancer.

If approved, intimate apparel manufacturers who violated the law would face penalties that could be as severe as having their operating licenses suspended.

While some health policy analysts saw the proposed messages as an example of Brazil's progressive health measures, lingerie manufacturers were vocal about their discomfort over the measure.

While Brazil's textile world and lawmakers agreed that preventative health messages were worth passing on, they did not agree on whether underwear was the right vehicle.

“This kind of relation [between underwear and disease] is totally absurd,” said Maria Teresa Pugliesi, legal director of SindiVestuario, the Brazilian clothing industry's labour union.

Another issue was how the message would be made to stand out, said others in the apparel industry.

“If it is too small it would make no difference,” said Monike de Mello Pereira, marketing assistant from Brazilian lingerie company Fruit de La Passion. “We have to show it in a very attractive way to make it useful for the customers.”

Brazil apparel industry was the sixth largest in the world and its lingerie sector produces more than 735 million pieces a year.