Enhanced breasts are the new big thing in Cambodia, and a US-Taiwanese company is

offering them at the bargain price of just $58 a set.

Jumelle, the company that had its racy television adverts canned by Minister of Information

Lu Laysreng, December 26, claimed breasts would revert to their 16-year-old selves

after just two weeks of taking its Femelle pills.

A sales manager for Jumelle said the product was entirely safe. He could not guarantee

the results, but said Femelle had proved reliable enough in other countries to bring

customers back for more than eight years. The product, he claimed, had gone through

rigorous testing in its home country.

The cost in Southeast Asia of surgically enhancing breasts is around $2,000; for

Jumelle's $58 per pack, the company says, you get improved breasts and shiny hair

as well.

The Travellers' Clinic's Dr Gavin Scott said the combination of goodies was probably

harmless and just as likely ineffectual.

"I am sure it won't work," he said, "but it is unlikely to be dangerous.

The concentration will be very low; all herbal medicines contain drugs, just in very

low doses."

Among the ingredients are royal jelly, rose hip, avocado oil and bee pollen. Less

appetizing are cow's placenta powder, hydrolyzed bovine collagen, and collustrum.

Scott said the placenta is "packed with hormones", but maintained these

would be broken down in the stomach, while collagen, which is normally injected to

plump out lips and skin, was unlikely to be effective if swallowed.

Modeling agent Sapor Rendall said larger breasts were now considered desirable in

Cambodia and women were resorting to creams, oils and operations to attain the new

ideal. The obsession had not reached the "100 percent levels" seen in Vietnam,

she said, but it was growing.

"Cambodian women are very private about things like this, so it is very difficult

to know who is doing what," said Sapor.

One who did talk anonymously to the Post said she was interested in the idea, but

voiced a few concerns.

"I am afraid it might have side effects on my health," she said. "Plus

they are far too expensive for someone like me because they might not even work."