US approves 'cookie' flavoured underwear for safer oral sex

For the first time ever, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared a pair of underwear specially for oral sex.

The cookie-flavoured undies are made by Lorals and are designed to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases between sexual partners.

The prophylactic latex panties are designed to be disposable and an alternative to dental dams, which Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told the New York Times are “extremely unpopular”.

Marrazzo explained, “oral sex is not totally risk-free” and stressed a greater need for more varieties of protection since “teenagers are initiating their first sexual activity with oral sex”.

STIs such as herpes, gonorrhoea, chlamydia. HPV and syphilis can be transmitted through oral sex, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Lorals underwear is designed for “people with vulvas” and went through 20 rounds of prototypes to find the right finished product. It is as thin as a condom, flavoured and comes in both a bikini and “shortie” cut.

The brand claims that its underwear prevents “the transmission of bodily fluids, harmful pathogens and sexually transmitted infections”.

Company founder Melanie Cristol was inspired to create the product while on her honeymoon in Mexico with her wife in 2014. She described finding it difficult for them to find protection after contracting an STI.

She said: “I was just so discouraged. I wanted to feel sexy and confident and use something that was made with my body and actual sex in mind.”

According to The Times, the reviews of the newly-approved product are good, with one customer saying it was “a solution I didn’t know I needed” and highlighting how they taste like “a cookie”.

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