Mickey Slim

The Mickey Slim is a cocktail that supposedly appeared in the United States during the 1940s or 1950s. As described in the 2001 book *The Dedalus Book of Absinthe*, the drink was made by mixing gin with a small amount of DDT, an insecticide that was later outlawed in many nations. Those who drank it allegedly said the experience resembled that of absinthe. Whether the drink ever actually existed is disputed, as there is little documentary proof; some consider it a modern urban legend. The earliest mention of the Mickey Slim found on Newspapers.com as of January 2023 appears in a television listing for a 1992 episode of the BBC documentary series *Pandora's Box*. This beverage is not the same as the knockout drink called the Mickey Finn.

Regarding the health effects of DDT in humans, a 2009 study linked it to various health issues. However, its dangers were not always recognized. For instance, a *Time* magazine article from August 1, 1971, reported that pest control executive Robert Loibl and his wife Louise began each breakfast with a 10-milligram DDT capsule for three months to prove its safety, doing so in front of witnesses. British entomologist Kenneth Mellanby also frequently ingested small amounts of DDT during his lectures over 40 years. In his 1992 book *The DDT Story*, he wrote that consuming milligram-level doses seemed harmless, noting that he himself often ate a substantial pinch of DDT during post-World War II lectures, alarming audiences but suffering no apparent harm then or in the following four decades. Entomologist Gordon Edwards similarly demonstrated DDT consumption, appearing in the September 1971 issue of *Esquire* doing so. None of these individuals reported any psychoactive effects from the chemical. The comparison to absinthe is misleading, as the supposed psychedelic effect of absinthe—attributed to the compound thujone—has been shown to be nearly nonexistent; the only effect from the Mickey Slim would come from the alcohol in the gin.