The Mickey Slim was a drink claimed to have been consumed by some in the United States in the 1940s or 1950s. According to the 2001 book ''The Dedalus Book of Absinthe'', it was made by combining gin with a pinch of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), an insecticide that would later be banned in most countries; consumers of this concoction reportedly claimed that its effects were similar to

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of '' Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historica ...

. Due to a lack of documentary evidence, it has been questioned whether this is a modern urban legend rather than a historical reality. As of January 2023, the earliest reference on

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

to the drink is in the television listing for a 1992 episode of ''

Pandora's Box Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing physi ...

'', a BBC documentary series. This beverage should not be confused with the knockout drink known as the Mickey Finn.

Effects of consumption of DDT by humans

In a 2009 study, DDT was linked to various health problems in humans. However, the negative health effects on humans have not always been apparent. ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

'', reported on August 1, 1971, that Pest Control Executive Robert Loibl and his wife Louise start breakfast with a 10 mg capsule of DDT to demonstrate its safety, doing so for three months in front of witnesses. The well-known British entomologist

Kenneth Mellanby Major Kenneth Mellanby (26 March 1908 – 23 December 1993) was an English ecologist and entomologist. He received the OBE for his work on the scabies mite. Life and work lMellanby was educated at Barnard Castle School and then at King's Colleg ...

often ate small amounts of DDT during his 40 years of lectures. On p. 75 of his 1992 book ''The DDT Story'', Mellanby famously wrote: The entomologist Gordon Edwards also frequently demonstrated DDT consumption, and he appeared in the September 1971 edition of ''

Esquire magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

'' doing so. None of them reported any psychoactive effects of their consumption of DDT. There have been no reports of this tasteless chemical having any psychoactive effects. The comparison to absinthe basically does not indicate any effect at all (aside from that of the alcohol in the cocktail), since the assumed psychedelic effect of absinthe, that is, the effect of the chemical

thujone Thujone () is a ketone and a monoterpene that occurs predominantly in two diastereomeric (epimeric) forms: (−)-α-thujone and (+)-β-thujone. Though it is best known as a chemical compound in the spirit absinthe, it is unlikely to be responsib ...

, has in recent times been revealed to be close to non-existent.

Effects of consumption of DDT by humans

See also

Notes

Further reading