Teens must now have parental consent in order to tan.

LITTLE ROCK — As high summer kicks into full gear, it's time to get out on the lake or, for the travelers out there, even to the beach. But before the usual summer fun in the sun begins, it's not uncommon for many to head to the tanning salon to get a little color first - that is, if they can.

This year those under 18 are confronted with a new barrier between themselves and the tanning bed in Arkansas Act 707, signed into law in April, which requires that a parent or guardian sign off on a waiver permitting their kids to tan. And it has to be signed in the presence of the bed operator.

Of course, you'd have to live under a rock not to have heard that exposure to ultraviolet or UV light, whether the natural rays of the sun or the artificial glow of a bed, can increase the risk of developing skin cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), frequent use of a tanning bed can actually increase the damage skin suffers from natural sunlight. Women who use tanning beds more than once a month are 55 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, according to the NCI Web site.

And for that reason, said 17-year-old Zee Fanek, the new tanning law is a good thing.

"I'm in total support," Fanek said via e-mail. "Although most teens enjoy tanning and pursue it in any time and manner, they are mostly never aware of the consequences of excessive tanning."

If the waiver serves as a reminder of those consequences - even if teens are taking measures to sneak around it - at least it's a heads up that might get them thinking.

But the law is not without its critics, either. Some will say it's the government telling parents how to do their jobs. Others may object on the more general principle of seeing civil liberties taken away - not so unlike the new law that, come October, will allow police to initiate a traffic stop if they see someone not wearing a seatbelt.

Shannon Earls is a mother of three teenage daughters -17, 16 and 13 - and allows the older two to tan sparingly. For instance, they went before a beach trip this year and before prom.

"There are a lot worse things they could be asking me to do," she said in a phone interview. "I think as long as we're on the same page with our children and we have their hearts, we don't have to micromanage their lives."

In that sense, she said it wasn't so unlike another new law on the books preventing kids under 18 from using a cell phone while driving for any reason other than an emergency. It facilitates conversations about making good decisions, both when they're behind the wheel and when their friends are, and it can serve as a deterrent when kids fear being caught.

But if there's a lack of enforcement the cell phone law "won't do squat," she said, and that's why she criticized the tanning law. It provides no penalty to tanning bed operators who don't follow the rules.

"When I don't set down consequences to breaking a rule, it's not a rule. It's just an option I'm giving my kids," Earls said.