Federal environmental regulators have sued the parent company of outdoor clothing company The North Face, alleging that shoes marketed as anti-bacterial violated federal pesticide laws.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed the lawsuit Tuesday against San Leandro-based VF Outdoor Inc. over company claims that North Face footwear containing a specially treated footbed would prevent disease-causing bacteria and fungus.

The EPA says the company shouldn't have claimed the footbed would prevent the bacteria, and the lawsuit accuses the company of 162 counts based on the allegedly misleading claims.

"Unverified public health claims can lead people to believe they are protected from disease-causing organisms when, in fact, they may not be," Katherine Taylor, EPA's associate director for communities and ecosystems in the Pacific southwest region, said.

The company faces up to $1 million in fines, and says all anti-bacterial claims on hang tags and its Web site were removed early last year after appearing for just a few months.

Steve Rendle, president of The North Face and VF Outdoor Inc.'s coalition, said the company is trying to understand why EPA has filed a lawsuit when the company immediately changed the problem wording.

"We immediately, without being asked, went to work to get those tags off the shoes," he said. "We agree that we used four words on a hang tag that we should not have used."