Breast implants prize sparks ire

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian men's magazine offering readers a "boob job" breast enhancement for their girlfriends will be investigated under laws barring cosmetic surgery prizes, authorities said Tuesday.

Zoo Weekly, a magazine which regularly features pictures of skimpily-dressed women, offered readers A$10,000 ($8,400) for "a boob job for your girlfriend."

But the competition drew the ire of New South Wales state Gaming and Racing Minister Graham West, who ordered an investigation into whether the magazine had broken Lotteries laws forbidding the offer of cosmetic surgery as a prize.

"We have asked the state charities office to investigate if there's a breach," a spokesman for the minister told Reuters.

Magazine editor Paul Merrill told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the competition was legal because it was simply offered cash, rather than a breast enhancement operation.

"If they choose to spend it on surgery they can. We've checked out all the legals," he said.

Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons President Howard Webster said any doctor who provided an operation under the competition faced being struck off the medical register.

($1=A$1.19)