Executive Order 14433, dated September 29 and published in the Federal Register on October 2, directs four agencies to develop and implement a tick and mosquito campaign across Washington, D.C. It sets 60- and 90-day deadlines and 2028 goals; its text changes no regulation.
What the order directs
The Interior and Agriculture secretaries and the administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Services Administration, consulting Health and Human Services (HHS), are to run a D.C. campaign to reduce invasive mosquito populations, "as appropriate," by 90 percent and the tick population by 50 percent by 2028. It is to remediate breeding grounds on federal lands, control host animals including rodents and deer, and favor commercial or cooperative-agreement capabilities.
EPA is to send the President a regulatory framework for developing and releasing advanced control technologies and to "prioritize and expeditiously advance or register" novel products it finds safe and effective. HHS is to announce prize competitions or direct research on diagnostics, preventives and treatments, and review alpha-gal immunotherapies; Agriculture is to announce prizes or direct research on non-chemical means. The two are to explore allergy-style labels for foods and drugs with significant alpha-galactose.
The pests and tools it names
The order names no specific pesticide. Its background says past approaches "have relied primarily on the use of conventional pesticides" and that non-chemical, technology-enabled measures can significantly reduce the harm. Named tools include mowing, rain gardens, natural predator populations and sterile insect techniques; EPA's framework is to consider sterilization, safe genetic modification and the use of "safe, beneficial bacteria". Its only mention of registration is EPA's "advance or register" directive; it cites no registration law or rule.
The pests are ticks and mosquitoes, with the Asian tiger and Egyptian mosquitoes singled out; the order says they are multiplying and dominant in some areas, including D.C.
The dates
Deadlines run from "the date of this order," September 29, not its October 2 publication. By this desk's count, in calendar days:
- 60 days: November 28, 2026 (a Saturday; the order sets no weekend rule): the D.C. campaign (Sec. 3(a)); EPA's framework and novel-product priority (3(b)); labeling options (3(e)).
- 90 days: December 28, 2026 (a Monday): HHS prizes or research and immunotherapy review (3(c)); Agriculture's non-chemical prizes or research (3(d)).
- 2028: the 90 percent and 50 percent goals; no day is named.
What it does not do on its own
The order directs agencies; its text amends no regulation and registers or bans no product. It says it is to be implemented "consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations", does not impair agencies' authority, and creates no enforceable right. Section 3(f) orders only a review of available resources. The order states no funding amount and no requirement that the campaign or EPA's framework be published or opened to comment.