diff --git a/docs/topics/email.rst b/docs/topics/email.rst
index c2dd0a450b97f6508d156a064850605947dc3150..9c01c9c8d8a0beec1a02232527aa2d765ae04b07 100644
--- a/docs/topics/email.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/email.rst
@@ -58,9 +58,6 @@ uses `Twisted non-blocking IO`_, like the rest of the framework.
 
         Send email to the given recipients. Emits the :signal:`mail_sent` signal.
 
-        If :setting:`MAIL_DEBUG` is enabled the :signal:`mail_sent` signal will
-        be emmited and no actual email will be sent.
-
         :param to: the e-mail recipients
         :type to: list
 
@@ -136,15 +133,6 @@ Default: ``None``
 
 Password to use for SMTP authentication, along with :setting:`MAIL_USER`.
 
-.. setting:: MAIL_DEBUG
-
-MAIL_DEBUG
-----------
-
-Default: ``False``
-
-Whether to enable the debugging mode.
-
 
 Mail signals
 ============
diff --git a/scrapy/mail.py b/scrapy/mail.py
index 17973e5847212429a09b84bc4ab602da2ed9c9f7..a7e4c94f7aa39b3c8b6ba13bcde48db05a6d3db8 100644
--- a/scrapy/mail.py
+++ b/scrapy/mail.py
@@ -28,12 +28,13 @@ mail_sent = object()
 class MailSender(object):
 
     def __init__(self, smtphost=None, mailfrom=None, smtpuser=None, smtppass=None, \
-            smtpport=None):
+            smtpport=None, debug=False):
         self.smtphost = smtphost or settings['MAIL_HOST']
         self.smtpport = smtpport or settings.getint('MAIL_PORT')
         self.smtpuser = smtpuser or settings['MAIL_USER']
         self.smtppass = smtppass or settings['MAIL_PASS']
         self.mailfrom = mailfrom or settings['MAIL_FROM']
+        self.debug = debug
 
         if not self.smtphost or not self.mailfrom:
             raise NotConfigured("MAIL_HOST and MAIL_FROM settings are required")
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ class MailSender(object):
         send_catch_log(signal=mail_sent, to=to, subject=subject, body=body,
                        cc=cc, attach=attachs, msg=msg)
 
-        if settings.getbool('MAIL_DEBUG'):
+        if self.debug:
             log.msg('Debug mail sent OK: To=%s Cc=%s Subject="%s" Attachs=%d' % \
                 (to, cc, subject, len(attachs)), level=log.DEBUG)
             return
diff --git a/scrapy/tests/test_mail.py b/scrapy/tests/test_mail.py
index efc93abb5d0c88a049705eb0cdb42413f1f10c6d..4512997f8c7f8160f9b3d12304abd5fd90d166dc 100644
--- a/scrapy/tests/test_mail.py
+++ b/scrapy/tests/test_mail.py
@@ -3,22 +3,20 @@ import unittest
 
 from scrapy.xlib.pydispatch import dispatcher
 
-from scrapy.conf import settings
 from scrapy.mail import MailSender, mail_sent
 
 
 class MailSenderTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
-        settings.disabled = False
-        settings.overrides['MAIL_DEBUG'] = True
-
         self.catched_msg = None
-
         dispatcher.connect(self._catch_mail_sent, signal=mail_sent)
 
+    def tearDown(self):
+        dispatcher.disconnect(self._catch_mail_sent, signal=mail_sent)
+
     def test_send(self):
-        mailsender = MailSender()
+        mailsender = MailSender(debug=True)
         mailsender.send(to=['test@scrapy.org'], subject='subject', body='body')
 
         assert self.catched_msg
@@ -38,7 +36,7 @@ class MailSenderTest(unittest.TestCase):
         attach.seek(0)
         attachs = [('attachment', 'text/plain', attach)]
 
-        mailsender = MailSender()
+        mailsender = MailSender(debug=True)
         mailsender.send(to=['test@scrapy.org'], subject='subject', body='body',
                        attachs=attachs)
 
@@ -59,10 +57,6 @@ class MailSenderTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(text.get_payload(decode=True), 'body')
         self.assertEqual(attach.get_payload(decode=True), 'content')
 
-    def tearDown(self):
-        del settings.overrides['MAIL_DEBUG']
-        settings.disabled = True
-
     def _catch_mail_sent(self, **kwargs):
         self.catched_msg = dict(**kwargs)