Hundreds of thousands of the pants will go on sale this week, targeted at men ages 15 to 35, the group most at risk. The Men's Health Forum, set up by the Royal College of Nursing to address the imbalance between women's and men's health education, welcomed the direct approach of the Tesco chain. The forum's chairman, Dr. Ian Banks, said he would model the pants himself if it helped to raise men's awareness. Tesco, which sells 200,000 pairs of men's underwear every year, said it was responding to customer demand for more accessible health care advice. The supermarket introduced breast cancer awareness labels in bras last summer.
Testicular cancer is rare but is easily treated if spotted early.
In recent weeks, Philadelphia stores and banks have sharply increased Federal Reserve orders for the coins as tellers and cashiers have found themselves penniless. Customers are being asked to dig for exact change during the crunch. In Cape Girardeau, the local Mercantile Bank is paying a 10 percent premium to people who bring in pennies in exchange for other coins or currency. Mercantile Bank President Lowell Peterson said officials with the Federal Reserve in St. Louis told him his bank wouldn't receive any more pennies until this week, when a new shipment was expected from the U.S. Mint.