Tony Mackenzie's Anti-Ageing Secret

This is a sad tale of a profoundly delusional man named Tony Mackenzie.

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Tony is approaching the end of his life, but he thinks he's hit on a way to cheat death and he's willing to share the secret with you.

The price? £4,999.

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Tony's advert (available here) explains all.

"I found out something interesting, valid and beneficial information through some years of study and I want to share that information. If you don't study the content and research behind the information you won't be able to judge it fairly..."

I've studied the "content and research behind the information" on your behalf, so let's cut to the important bit. Tony is selling an anti-ageing therapy that makes use of fragments of DNA called Telomeres.

"I for one will be taking part in my own protocl when it starts soon and will be taking the expensive and rare molecule that I am importing at a very high purity level and which is the mainstay of the protocol supported by the other cellular enhancing supplements that are also now at the cutting edge of the new anti-aging science being pursued by leading scientists...

If I can prove for myself that the telomerase activation theory is valid using the rare Asian molecule telomerase activator we have sourced - as many others in the USA and numerous scientific papers have already demonstrated - then the anti-aging benefit will be worth more to me than making lots of money or in trying to establish what some people seem to think is either a dangerous or crackpot theory...

The protocol will be available to clients worldwide who are willing to pay the fee and can get a medical practitioner to give consent for the client to take part in the "trial". (P.S. It's not a "free" trial!)..."

In other words, Tony expects you to fund his worthless clinical trial. ASA complaint follows; I've also notified Trading Standards and the MHRA.

"I'm writing to complain about an advert in the UK edition of Nexus magazine (Apr-May 2011, p18).

The advert, for Tony Mackenzie / The Mackenzie Protocol PLC, promotes an anti-aging product.

The product is an "expensive and rare molecule" which is "imported at a very high purity level". The product is offered by means of a [clinical] "trial". Participants must pay a fee of £4,999 to take part in the "trial".

1. "The protocol will be available to clients worldwide who are willing to pay the fee and can get a medical practitioner to give consent for the client to take part in the "trial". (P.S. It's not a "free" trial!)"

I'd like to challenge whether the use of the word "trial" in the context of the advert is misleading, since I suspect that few scientific journals would consider publishing clinical research funded by the participants themselves.

2. "Some of my [product] has already 'in my opinion' helped me to manage my diabetes type 2 when I first discovered transdermal magnesium therapy and resveratrol before most people had even heard of this amazing product."

Despite the "in my opinion" disclaimer, I'd like to challenge whether this claim of a treatment for a named serious disease is misleading, and whether it could discourage essential treatment.

3. "If I can prove for myself that the telomerase activation theory is valid using the rare Asian molecule telomerase activator we have sourced - as many others in the USA and numerous scientific papers have already demonstrated - then the anti-aging benefit will be worth more to me that making lots of money or in trying to establish what some people seem to think is either a dangerous or crackpot theory. (As I said, it's not my theory, I'm just the messenger.)"

I'd like to challenge whether the advertiser can substantiate his claim that the "anti-aging benefit" of the product has been "demonstrated" by "numerous scientific papers".

4. "I find it very frustrating that people don't believe that their doctors - working on information and methods that are decades old - could possibly be unaware of valuable information regarding major illnesses and diseases that are now at epidemic proportions in the western world. The methods being used to try to overcome many of these diseases (usually unsuccessfully in the long term) are still mainly outdated and are based on a slash and burn mentality..."

I'd like to challenge whether the advertiser's claim of a widespread medical conspiracy to ignore "valuable information regarding major illnesses and diseases that are now at epidemic proportions in the western world" in favour of "information and methods that are decades old" is misleading.

I can confirm that I have no connections with the advertiser or with the alternative medicine industry in general."