Trump Orders Federal Campaign to Cut D.C. Mosquitoes 90%, Ticks 50% by 2028 – Use as Model to Expand

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President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to launch a technology-focused campaign against disease-carrying mosquitoes and ticks in Washington, D.C., with plans to use the capital as a model for broader pest-control efforts nationwide.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to sharply reduce invasive mosquito and tick populations in Washington, D.C., launching a public-health initiative that will emphasize biological controls, sterile insects, habitat management and other technologies while seeking to limit harm to beneficial wildlife.

Trump signed the executive order, titled “Eliminating Disease-Carrying Pests And Restoring Enjoyment Of The Great Outdoors,” on Sept. 29, setting a goal of reducing targeted invasive mosquito populations in the nation’s capital by 90% and ticks by 50% by 2028.

The order focuses particularly on the Asian tiger mosquito and Egyptian mosquito, also commonly called the yellow fever mosquito, while allowing agencies to target other invasive mosquito species where appropriate.

The administration plans to begin with Washington as a demonstration project and eventually apply successful techniques elsewhere in the country.

Ticks and mosquitoes are capable of transmitting a wide range of illnesses, and their growing populations have become an increasing public-health concern in parts of the United States. The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies reported this summer that changing environmental conditions and expanding ranges are contributing to greater exposure to ticks, mosquitoes and the diseases they can carry.

Trump’s order directs the departments of Interior and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration, working with the Department of Health and Human Services, to develop and implement the D.C. campaign.

Agencies have 60 days to begin putting the plan into operation.

Rather than relying primarily on conventional pesticides, the administration is directing officials to prioritize “commonsense, non-chemical, technology-enabled measures” where possible.

The plan calls for federal agencies to reduce mosquito and tick breeding areas on federally controlled land through techniques including drainage improvements, mowing, rain gardens and targeted natural controls.

Officials are also directed to address animals that can help sustain or spread tick populations and tick-borne diseases, including rodents and deer.

The government intends to explore commercial technologies and cooperative agreements for more advanced control measures.

Among those technologies are sterile insect techniques, in which large numbers of male mosquitoes incapable of producing viable offspring are released into an area. Because male mosquitoes do not bite, they can mate with wild females without directly increasing the biting population. When the technique works as intended, eggs produced through those matings fail to develop, gradually suppressing the local population.

Related methods use naturally occurring bacteria such as Wolbachia to interfere with mosquito reproduction or reduce the insects’ ability to transmit particular viruses.

Trump’s order instructs the EPA, Agriculture Department and HHS to develop a regulatory framework for advanced mosquito and tick technologies, specifically directing agencies to consider sterilization methods, safe genetic modification and beneficial bacteria.

The EPA is also being told to prioritize review or registration of new pest-control technologies it determines are safe and effective.

The emphasis on biological and technological controls reflects the administration’s goal of suppressing disease-carrying pests without broadly harming bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects or damaging native plants and animals.

The initiative is tied to the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force Trump established in March 2025.

The order says Washington’s parks, waterways and recreation areas should be made more usable without creating unnecessary ecological damage from pest-control measures.

If the D.C. program demonstrates that the techniques can substantially reduce mosquitoes and ticks, federal officials are directed to consider using it as a model for a larger national strategy.

The public-health component extends well beyond pest eradication.

HHS has been given 90 days to expand research into faster diagnostic tests, preventive approaches and treatments for major diseases and syndromes transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes.

The diseases specifically identified by the administration include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, babesiosis, alpha-gal syndrome and theileriosis among tick-associated conditions.

Mosquito-borne illnesses identified in the order include West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya and dengue.

The directive tells HHS to build on an existing Lyme Disease Moonshot initiative and establish prize competitions or research programs aimed at improving diagnostics, prevention and treatment.

Federal researchers will also review possible immunotherapy treatments for alpha-gal syndrome, an unusual allergy that can develop after certain tick bites and cause reactions to mammalian meat and other products containing alpha-gal.

The Agriculture Department, working with HHS and other agencies, must separately explore whether foods and drug products containing significant amounts of alpha-galactose should carry labeling similar to other allergy warnings.

Tick-borne diseases have expanded geographically in the United States over recent decades as tick populations and their animal hosts move into new areas.

Mosquito-borne disease has also been drawing renewed attention.

Florida is currently responding to an unusual dengue outbreak concentrated in the Tampa Bay region. Pinellas County said Sept. 30 that Florida Department of Health figures showed 179 confirmed dengue cases across Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties based on the latest available Sept. 24 report.

The three counties have increased mosquito-control activity, with local governments using measures including truck treatments, aerial spraying, inspections and efforts to eliminate standing water where mosquitoes reproduce.

Dengue is primarily spread through infected Aedes mosquitoes, including the same two invasive species specifically targeted in Trump’s Washington initiative.

Most dengue infections produce mild or no symptoms, but the virus can cause high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain and, in a smaller share of patients, potentially life-threatening complications.

West Nile virus remains another persistent mosquito-borne threat in the United States.

Trump’s order does not specify a single technology that agencies must use to achieve the 90% mosquito reduction.

Instead, it directs officials to combine habitat management, biological controls and emerging pest-control technologies based on what proves safe and effective.

That could include releases of sterile or reproductively incompatible male mosquitoes.

Such programs are already being tested or deployed in various parts of the United States and abroad, using approaches intended to reduce mosquito populations without conventional area-wide insecticide applications.

The order also requires the administration to consider how pests move into and across Washington rather than simply treating individual federal properties.

Federal officials are instructed to work with the D.C. government when appropriate to create a broader plan for controlling ticks and mosquitoes across the city.

The initiative specifically seeks to suppress the invasive species that have become established in the capital rather than eliminate all mosquitoes or ticks.

Both groups include numerous species, and many play roles in ecosystems as food sources for wildlife or as part of natural ecological systems.

The administration’s stated objective is to focus control efforts on invasive and disease-carrying populations while avoiding unnecessary effects on other species.

The aggressive numerical targets give agencies slightly more than two years to demonstrate measurable results.

By 2028, the administration wants targeted mosquito populations reduced by at least 90% and the D.C. tick population cut in half, with additional reductions encouraged where practical.

Achieving those targets would require both suppressing existing populations and limiting their ability to rebound.

The order therefore combines immediate control measures with longer-term research into new technologies.

It also directs the Agriculture Department and other agencies to sponsor research competitions for non-chemical methods of preventing mosquito- and tick-borne disease.

Funding for the initiative will depend on existing agency resources and congressional appropriations.

The order directs federal departments to review resources already available to carry out the program rather than identifying a specific new dollar amount.

For the Trump administration, Washington will serve as the first test.

The White House’s objective is to determine whether coordinated land management, sterile-insect releases, biological techniques and other emerging tools can produce large reductions in disease-carrying pests while minimizing reliance on conventional pesticides.

If the program succeeds, the order calls for those approaches to be expanded beyond the capital.

The initiative consequently reaches further than a campaign against mosquitoes and ticks in Washington.

It establishes D.C. as a testing ground for a potential national pest-control strategy combining federal health research, environmental management and biotechnology — with the first benchmark arriving in 2028, when agencies will be measured against Trump’s targets of a 90% reduction in invasive mosquitoes and a 50% reduction in ticks.