What is BDIH?

• BDIH, established in 1951, is the non-profit Association of Industries and Trading Firms for pharmaceuticals, health care products, food supplements and personal hygiene products. In 1996, working together with leading natural cosmetic producers, the BDIH developed comprehensive guidelines for certified natural cosmetics, keeping in mind the expectations of consumers. On the basis of these guidelines, an independent institute has tested more than 2.000 products for their contents and production methods.

Guidelines:

• Raw materials of plant origin: must originate from certified organic raw material
• Animal protection :
  • It is allowed to use substances that are produced by animals (e.g. milk or honey).
  • It is not allowed to use raw materials obtained from dead vertebrates (e.g. emu oil, mink oil, marmot fat, animal fats, collagen or living cells).
  • It is prohibited to carry out or commission another party to carry out animal testing – not only when manufacturing products, but also when developing and controlling the end products.
  • Raw materials that were tested on animals after December 31, 1997 must not be used. Any animal testing carried out by third parties who acted neither on behalf of nor at the instigation of the raw material producer or supplier, or the manufacturer of the finished product, and who are not connected with the preceding parties under company law, are not taken into account here.
• Raw materials of mineral origin & production processes allowed:
  • The use of inorganic and mineral salts, acids and bases (e.g. magnesium sulphate or sodium chloride) is generally allowed, except for those listed below.
  • Alongside physical processes – including extraction with water, vegetable alcohol, carbon dioxide, vegetable fats and oils, and glycerine obtained from these – enzymatic and microbiological processes as they occur in nature are also allowed for the production of natural cosmetics.
  • In addition, substances may be obtained from natural substances such as fats, oils and waxes, sugar, starch, cellulose, proteins, polysaccharides and vitamins by means of hydrolysis, hydrogenation, oxidation, reduction, esterification or other methods of cleavage and condensation.
  • Permitted natural and biotechnological odorants are determined by the ISO 9235 standard.

The following substances are not allowed:

• Organic-synthetic dyes
• Synthetic fragrances
• Ethoxylated raw materials
• Silicones
• Paraffin and other petroleum products
• It is not allowed to treat raw materials of plant and animal origin or end products with ionizing radiation.