Ignoring the fact that the before pictures already show active hairs on the man's head and for the most part just appear to show that he didn't receive a haircut in between the two photos, and ignoring that they're also trying to claim their product cures skin blemishes even though its just a different lighting setup between the two shots, I still think the primary concern is there's a possibility this stuff could induce or at least feed tumors.
http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/10/7/677
This is very dangerous ground you're treading on here considering long term tests on this stuff haven't been done to see if: A) the stuff actually works, B) the stuff grows huge tumors on your scalp instead.
Here's some more info from
Scientific America.
Interesting point from ^ article:
"The precise makeup of the enzyme can differ from species to species, but each version possesses a species-specific RNA template for building telomeric repeats."
So, if the stuff contains telomerase and it's being produced by a bacteria, why would it be the human species specific enzyme?
Some points in favor of the telomere hypothesis towards hair loss:
"After all, cells can usually divide more times than is required in a human life span....Further, it is known that atherosclerosis typically develops where blood vessel walls have been damaged. It is conceivable that cells at repeatedly injured sites could finally "use up" their replicative capacity, so that the vessels ultimately fail to replace lost cells. Then damage would persist, and atherosclerosis would set in."
But back to the cancer problem:
"In theory, a lack of telomerase would retard the growth of tumors by causing continually dividing cells to lose their telomeres and to succumb before they did much damage. If cancer cells made telomerase, they would retain their telomeres and would potentially survive indefinitely."
And from the *always trustworthy
Wikipedia:
"Some experiments have raised questions on whether telomerase can be used as an anti-aging therapy, namely, the fact mice with elevated levels of telomerase have higher cancer incidence and hence do not live longer. In addition, although certain premature aging syndromes have been associated with telomere shortening, mice without active telomerase do not appear to suffer from premature aging. Telomerase also favors tumorogenesis, leading to questions about its potential as an anti-aging therapy.[9] On the other hand, one study showed that activating telomerase in cancer-resistant mice by overexpressing its catalytic subunit extended lifespan.[10] The potential remains for telomerase activators to contribute to the development of cancer."
It seems like a neat avenue for treatment of hair loss but considering the application area's proximity to the brain I'd be very wary of anything that could boost cancer formation and growth especially when, if you get it, the chances of you being dead within 5 years after detection of brain cancer is around 70%.
