Dr Lauterbach is a leading expert in the chemistry and toxicology of tobacco products and tobacco smoke who was, in April 2010, appointed to the Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee.

Dr Lauterbach is a diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and certified in general toxicology. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a chartered scientist, and a chartered chemist. Prior to starting his own company, Lauterbach & Associates LLC, in 2004, Dr Lauterbach had been with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation for twenty-four years, where he held senior positions in research and development. 

Don Hedley

Maxim Korolev is the publisher of Russian Tobacco Media Group, an industrial news agency providing reports, conferences, tobacco market analysis and statistics, and other information services for the tobacco industry.

Russian Tobacco and the online portal of the same name aggregate, verify, and disseminate specialised information with focus on the Russian, CIS and Eastern Europe tobacco industry. The English version of the Russian Tobacco portal (www.rustabak.com) which went online in 2010 contains translations of key articles.

A consultant and journalist in the production, storage and processing of tropical crop commodities, including tobacco, Dr Mabett has wide experience of research and development throughout the tropics in West Africa, India, South East Asia and the West Indies.

His particular areas of expertise, on which he is writing this exclusive series for TJI, are pest, disease and weed control, plant nutrition, post harvest storage and processing.

Astrid Mitchell is the editor of Tax Stamp News and Currency News, both publications of UK-based company Reconnaissance International.

Reconnaissance International is a specialist publisher of business intelligence for authentication, anti-counterfeiting and brand protection and is the organiser of the Tax Stamp Forum and the Product Authentication and Security Summit.