Absinthe
What’s the controversy?
The green spirit made with Artemisia absinthium (wormwood) was made notorious by the imbibing habits of 19th-Century artists including Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Oscar Wilde.
The alcohol contains chemical compound thujone which was credited with mind-altering properties whose influence can supposedly be seen in fin de siècle art.
Banned: In the USA
Today, the EU allows a maximum of 35mg/kg of thujone in absinthe, while the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau requires drinks labelled “absinthe” to be “thujone-free”; in practice, less than 10mg/kg.