The manufacturer of a cosmetic cream has threatened a prominent British plastic surgeon with libel action for publicly questioned the effectiveness of the cream in a in a newspaper article.

According to Rodial Limited, regular application of its £125 Boob Job cream working with natural fat cells, can increase the breast size of a woman by up to 8.4%. Boob job is said to block fat cells moving around the body after eating, into the bust and décolleté areas, where the cream has been applied. Within 56 days of application, there is a gradual increase in cup size, including an instant lifting and firming effect.

The Daily Mail had quoted Dalia Nield of The London Clinic as saying the Boob Job cream's claims of what it could do were `highly unlikely', as the company had not provided any test details. She also said if the claims of the moving fat cells were true, the product could be said to be dangerous.

Nield's solicitor Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave LLP, who also acted for science writer Simon Singh in his libel battle against the British Chiropractic Association, said his client was now in the same position as Singh, both of them experts who had simply expressed their honest opinion on a matter of public importance.

As a surgeon, Nield said she was aware claims on medical products needed to be based on rigorous scientific testing, including the risks such treatments carried.

Singh said Nield also being threatened with libel demonstrates there is an urgent need for the government to radically reform our libel law that silences critics on matters of public interest.

In its Defamation Bill due for publication early 2011, the government has promised to introduce a stronger public interest defence for libel.