Trump Has Ordered A 90% Reduction In The Mosquito Population In Washington
- 1.10.2026, 12:20
The U.S. leader signed an executive order setting out objectives for U.S. government agencies.
The President of the United States of America Donald Trump has directed government agencies to demonstrate tangible results in reducing the mosquito and tick populations in Washington by 2028. This was reported by Politico.
The U.S. President signed a corresponding executive order requiring the relevant agencies to reduce the total mosquito population in Washington by at least 90% and the tick population by 50% by 2028. This task is to be carried out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, and the U.S. General Services Administration, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Specifically, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with establishing a regulatory framework that will provide for “sterilization methods, safe genetic modification, and the use of safe but beneficial bacteria.” The Agency has also been tasked with promptly beginning the “registration of new methods or agents for controlling ticks and mosquitoes.”
In addition, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy has been tasked with organizing a competition to develop new treatments for diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes. The competition is to take place as part of his initiative to combat Lyme disease.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is receiving many requests from biotechnology companies for permits to develop various methods of “mosquito population control.”
Presumably, the largest number of applications awaiting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came from tech giant Google as part of its Debug Project initiative. The goal of this project is to sterilize male mosquitoes using a bacterium called Wolbachia.
Google is still awaiting approval to conduct experimental testing of the bacterium on Asian tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus), which are the predominant species in Washington, D.C.
In addition, Google is testing the bacteria on Egyptian mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), best known as the primary carriers of the Zika, chikungunya, dengue, and other deadly viruses.