diff --git a/src/pyramid/response.py b/src/pyramid/response.py
index ea46772267..1ccf4fbdc3 100644
--- a/src/pyramid/response.py
+++ b/src/pyramid/response.py
@@ -7,20 +7,6 @@
 from zope.interface import implementer
 from pyramid.interfaces import IResponse, IResponseFactory
 
-
-def init_mimetypes(mimetypes):
-    # this is a function so it can be unittested
-    if hasattr(mimetypes, 'init'):
-        mimetypes.init()
-        return True
-    return False
-
-
-# See http://bugs.python.org/issue5853 which is a recursion bug
-# that seems to effect Python 2.6, Python 2.6.1, and 2.6.2 (a fix
-# has been applied on the Python 2 trunk).
-init_mimetypes(mimetypes)
-
 _BLOCK_SIZE = 4096 * 64  # 256K
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_response.py b/tests/test_response.py
index 18d4335adb..b63ccc6b1a 100644
--- a/tests/test_response.py
+++ b/tests/test_response.py
@@ -120,31 +120,6 @@ def test_close(self):
         self.assertTrue(f.closed)
 
 
-class Test_patch_mimetypes(unittest.TestCase):
-    def _callFUT(self, module):
-        from pyramid.response import init_mimetypes
-
-        return init_mimetypes(module)
-
-    def test_has_init(self):
-        class DummyMimetypes(object):
-            def init(self):
-                self.initted = True
-
-        module = DummyMimetypes()
-        result = self._callFUT(module)
-        self.assertEqual(result, True)
-        self.assertEqual(module.initted, True)
-
-    def test_missing_init(self):
-        class DummyMimetypes(object):
-            pass
-
-        module = DummyMimetypes()
-        result = self._callFUT(module)
-        self.assertEqual(result, False)
-
-
 class TestResponseAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         registry = Dummy()