The Web site encourages homeowners to call their local lawn care or pest control professional for advice on controlling fire ants. Only professionals can treat lawns with TopChoice, a revolutionary technology that provides unsurpassed control of fire ants for a full year with a single, professional application. TopChoice, a granular insecticide spread on the lawn like fertilizer, eliminates existing mounds and prevents new mounds from forming.

Fire ants pose a serious public health threat, especially to children and pets. It is estimated that fire ants sting more than 20 million people annually. Fire ant stings inflict pain, cause burning and itching, and can leave scars. While most stings are treatable, studies show that 10-15 percent of all people can have severe localized allergic reactions, and 1-2 percent can experience systemic allergic reactions, which, in rare cases, may result in death.

Fire ants currently infest more than 325 million acres across the southern United States, including Arkansas, Alabama, California, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (and Puerto Rico). They are moving northward and westward into Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Virginia.