White House orders D.C. mosquito and tick campaign with 2028 reduction targets

The White House on September 29 ordered federal agencies to develop and implement a mosquito and tick control campaign in Washington, D.C. The executive order sets targets to cut invasive mosquito populations by 90% and tick populations by 50% by 2028. Those figures are goals for the campaign, not measured reductions. The order gives agencies 60 days to begin the D.C. effort, making its immediate effect a set of federal duties and deadlines.

The order names Asian tiger and Egyptian mosquitoes among the invasive species targeted. It directs the Interior and Agriculture departments, the Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration to develop and implement the campaign in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services. It calls for further population reductions where practicable. The order does not provide a starting population count or a method for measuring progress against its percentage targets.

What the D.C. mosquito and tick campaign requires

On land under federal jurisdiction in D.C., the campaign must address breeding grounds through landscaping and drainage improvements. The order gives mowing and rain gardens as examples and also calls for targeted natural controls. It directs agencies to address the movement of pests and populations that help sustain ticks or tickborne disease, including rodents and deer. These are specified elements of the planned campaign; the order does not identify completed work at any particular site.

The agencies must prioritize commercial capabilities or cooperative agreements, including possible sterile-insect techniques for mosquitoes and other technologies the order describes as safe and effective. They must also develop a plan, consulting the District government as appropriate, for controls on land across D.C. communities. That instruction extends planning beyond federal property, but the order leaves the details of any community measures to the plan.

Disease research and alpha-gal labeling deadlines

The order gives HHS 90 days to announce prize competitions or direct research on rapid diagnostics, prevention and treatments for selected tick- and mosquito-borne diseases. It names illnesses including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya and dengue. HHS must also review available and candidate immunotherapies for alpha-gal syndrome and develop a research agenda for viable candidates. These directions concern research and review, rather than a newly available treatment.

Agriculture has a separate 90-day direction to announce prizes or direct research on non-chemical ways to reduce consequential tick- and mosquito-borne diseases, coordinating with Interior, HHS and EPA. Within 60 days, Agriculture and HHS must explore whether foods and drugs containing significant amounts of alpha-galactose could carry labeling similar to other allergy warnings. The order requires an examination of options; it does not impose a new label.

What existing D.C. mosquito control shows

DC Health says Asian tiger mosquitoes, yellow fever mosquitoes and common house mosquitoes are found in the D.C. area. The department says different species can transmit different diseases. It has surveyed mosquito types in the District since 2000, including testing captured mosquitoes for West Nile virus. Its public page links surveillance summaries for 2021 and 2018, but does not establish a contemporary population baseline for assessing the order’s 2028 targets.

The District’s existing practice also matters for understanding the change the federal order proposes. DC Health says it applies larvicide to standing water that cannot be eliminated and does not apply adulticide. Residents may hire pest-control companies to apply adulticide on their own property. The federal order calls for habitat work and possible advanced technologies, but the available documents do not specify how those approaches would be combined with DC Health’s current program.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 200 mosquito types live in the continental United States and its territories, while about 12 types spread germs that can make people sick. It identifies West Nile as one of the most common mosquito-borne diseases in the continental United States. The CDC also says dengue, chikungunya and Zika outbreaks have occurred in some U.S. states and territories. Those national facts give context to the order’s disease concerns; they do not measure disease risk in D.C.

How progress toward the 2028 targets can be assessed

The order makes implementation subject to applicable law and available appropriations. It directs agency planning and research, but does not state how the 90% mosquito and 50% tick reductions will be calculated. A current baseline and a measurement method will be needed to judge progress toward those targets. The next stated steps are the agencies’ 60-day campaign and regulatory work and their 90-day research actions; the sources do not establish that any of those steps has been completed.