Executive Order 14433: Eliminating Disease-Carrying Pests and Restoring Enjoyment of the Great Outdoors

What the order directs

The order sets a federal policy of reducing tick and mosquito populations and the diseases they spread through land management, detection, prevention, treatment and technologies including sterile-insect techniques. It directs agencies to develop a campaign in Washington, D.C.; it does not establish that the campaign or any population reduction has already occurred.

The text sets goals for the D.C. campaign to reduce specified invasive mosquito populations by 90 percent and the tick population by 50 percent by 2028. These are future targets in the order, not measured results or guarantees.

Who must do what

Within 60 days, the Interior and Agriculture Secretaries and the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Services Administration, consulting Health and Human Services (HHS), are directed to develop and implement the D.C. campaign. It covers breeding grounds on federally controlled land, pest transport and host populations, potential commercial and cooperative approaches, and a plan involving the D.C. government where appropriate.

Within 60 days, EPA is directed to submit a regulatory framework for planned development and environmental release of advanced control technologies, and to prioritize methods or products it finds safe and effective. Agriculture and HHS are also directed to explore options for labeling products containing significant amounts of alpha-galactose.

Within 90 days, HHS is directed to announce prize competitions or direct research on diagnostics, prevention and treatments for tick- and mosquito-borne diseases, and to review candidate immunotherapies for alpha-gal syndrome. Agriculture, coordinating with other agencies, is directed to support research on non-chemical ways to reduce disease and pest populations.

All 60- and 90-day clocks run from September 29, 2026, not publication on October 2. The campaign targets a 90 percent reduction in specified invasive mosquito populations and a 50 percent tick reduction by 2028; those are objectives, not reported results. The text allows prize announcements or directed research rather than requiring both, and preserves applicable law and available appropriations. Federal Register — full signed text and section references.

What the text does not establish

The order cites earlier orders concerning D.C. public spaces and biological research, but it does not itself demonstrate that a new product has been registered, a treatment approved, or a health outcome achieved. Agency action remains subject to applicable law and available appropriations. The 60- and 90-day periods are instructions to agencies measured from the signing date.

What happened next

The Federal Register published Executive Order 14433 on October 2, 2026. It sets deadlines for agencies to develop pest-control efforts in Washington, D.C., and calls for population-reduction targets by 2028; the order also assigns research, prize-competition, and product-review work.

The campaign combines land work, host control and biotechnology

The D.C. campaign is more specific than a general direction to spray for pests. Section 3(a) calls for landscaping and drainage changes on federally controlled land, with mowing and rain gardens as examples. It also covers pest transport and host populations, including rodents and deer, and prioritizes commercial capabilities or cooperative agreements. The community-land component involves consultation with the D.C. government where appropriate. The policy separately calls for protecting beneficial insects, native plants and animals while pursuing population reductions. Federal Register, sections 2(c) and 3(a).

EPA's proposed framework must consider sterilization, genetic modification and beneficial bacteria. Section 3(b) routes it to the President through the homeland security adviser and links it to the biological-research safeguards in EO 14292. The instruction to accelerate methods or register products applies to those EPA finds safe and effective. Section 3(f) also requires Interior, Agriculture, HHS and other relevant agencies to review available implementation resources with OMB. It gives that resource review no separate numerical deadline. Federal Register, section 3(b) and (f).

The regulatory and research work predates this order

The distinction between exploring biotechnology and authorizing its release is concrete. In a May 27, 2026, statement, EPA said an earlier experimental-use permit for genetically engineered mosquitoes had expired in 2024, that no U.S. releases were then authorized, and that unauthorized release would violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. That statement describes the position before EO 14433; it does not determine whether a later permit was issued. The new order directs regulatory work rather than supplying a product-specific release authorization. EPA's May 27 statement; EO 14433, section 3(b).

HHS's Lyme Innovation record also shows an existing research base. Its timeline dates the initiative to November 20, 2018, the LymeX public-private accelerator to October 2020, and the first LymeX Diagnostics Prize phase to May 2022. That phase sought methods for detecting active Lyme infections and awarded $1 million across ten winners. Those are earlier diagnostic-development activities, not accomplishments caused by the September 2026 order. This record documents a diagnostic-development program already operating before EO 14433. HHS Lyme Innovation timeline.

Official source and how we checked

White House — signed text of Executive Order 14433 (September 29, 2026). The scope, assigned officials and deadlines above are drawn from the order itself.

Federal Register — Executive Order 14433, 91 FR 63125 (October 2, 2026), document 2026-20320.

Government Publishing Office — complete Federal Register text of EO 14433, October 2, 2026, used to check every named implementation role and distinguish numerical deadlines from ongoing or undated duties.