Jonathan Sanger / NBC News, file

Patricia Krentcil poses for a portrait in her home in Nutley, N.J., on Monday, March 4, 2013. Krentcil became known as the "Tanning Mom."

NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law on Monday banning children under 17 from using commercial tanning beds, a move stemming from the case of a local woman accused of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth.

Under the new law, youth age 17 and older must have a parent or guardian present for an initial consultation with a tanning salon. It also bans children under 14 from getting spray tans in tanning salons.

Christie said that while he does not favor government regulation of small business, the new law was important for protecting the safety of minors.

"Governmental regulation of the private sector should always be carefully scrutinized, and sparingly adopted," he said in a statement. "The new restrictions imposed by this bill followed a single but breathlessly reported incident of a parent bringing a minor child into a tanning facility."

Patricia Krentcil of Nutley, New Jersey, was arrested in April 2012 after her daughter showed up at school with a sunburn and officials accused her of taking the child into a tanning booth.

Krentcil, who became known in tabloid stories as the "Tan Mom," testified that her own chocolate-brown hue came from many hours spent under the intense ultraviolet light of a tanning bed or out in the sun soaking up rays.

She denied exposing her daughter to a tanning session, and a grand jury opted not to indict her on charges of endangering the welfare of a child.

New Jersey was already one of several states that have regulations prohibiting anyone age 14 or younger from tanning with commercial ultraviolet devices because of the risk of skin cancer. The new law extends that ban to older teenagers.

Signing the bill into law, Christie noted the skin cancer risk and also that tanning before age 35 has been shown to increase the risk for melanoma by 75 percent.

Jonathan Sanger / NBC News

Patricia Krentcil, at her home in Nutley, N.J., is hoping to turn her notoriety into a lotion line, a book and a comedy act.

The New Jersey woman known as "Tan Mom" has big plans now that the criminal case against her is over: a self-tanning lotion line, a book proposal, a comedy act — and a raft of lawsuits.

But right now what Patricia Krentcil wants is a vacation.

"Somewhere hot so I can fry like a bacon and come back and say, 'Ha! Ha! You can't arrest me for lying in the sun,'" Krentcil, 44, said with a laugh.

"Not my face, though. Just my body."

It was Krentcil's face — practically the color of a chestnut in some photos — that made her a national punchline after she was arrested in May and charged with exposing her then-five-year-old daughter, Anna, to damaging ultraviolet rays at tanning salons in Nutley, N.J.

Julio Cortez / AP file

Patricia Krentcil as she waited to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court in May.

Krentcil denied it from the start, claiming a school nurse misinterpreted a sunburn Anna got from playing outside and that police misunderstood when her daughter said she "went tanning with Mommy."

Last week, a grand jury declined to indict her on a child endangerment charge, ending a 10-month saga that the mother of five described a nightmare.

"I’ve literally been stuck in my home for the past year," she said. "No matter where I go, everyone knows me. It’s very uncomfortable."

If she went out to eat, a murmur would run through the restaurant. A sofa-shopping trip had to be cut short when other customers started taking pictures. She was the object of ridicule in her children's schools.

"It doesn't matter where I go: I'm 'Tan Mom,'" she said.

She couldn't shake the nickname, so she embraced it, making TV appearances and getting a magazine makeover.

Over the last few months, she's been working with a self-styled skin guru, Dana Ramos, on launching her own line of self-tanners under the name Real Tan Mom Healthy Glow.

Ramos, who has her own skin-care line, helped rehabilitate Krentcil's complexion, which was marred by oversize pores, dark spots, and lines from up to 20 sessions in the tanning bed each month.

She said she banned Krentcil from tanning -- many salons said they wouldn't serve her anyway -- and oversaw a regimen of peels and moisturizers. A plastic surgeon helped with some fillers.

"I haven't tanned in forever," Krentcil said, sounding not entirely happy about it.

She vowed she'll never set foot in another salon, but insisted there's nothing wrong with catching some natural rays, along as she keeps the sun off her paler, but hardly porcelain face.

With her stock broker husband out of work and thousands in legal bills to pay, Krentcil is looking for other ways to cash in on her notoriety beyond the lotion line, which is weeks away from being finished.

She said she is writing a book, but doesn't have an agent or publisher. Once the subject of a "Saturday Night Live" sendup, she'd like to leverage her wacky story and offbeat personality for a comedy routine.

And she's ready for warmer climes.

"I don't like this town at all or this state, more or less ... I wanna go somewhere beautiful," she said.

Krentcil said she is planning lawsuits against anyone who made money off her story, like the manufacturers of a Barbie-type doll  based on her, or Halloween costumes.

She said she also wants to sue the school district since that's where the initial complaint about Anna's sunburn came from. The district superintendent did not return a call for comment.

Nearly a year after her arrest, Krentcil said she’s at a loss to explain why the authorities went after her. "Envy? Jealousy?" she said.

She's certainly not ready to forgive and forget, boasting that when the school nurse called recently about her daughter being ill, she barked at her, "Oh, you didn't call the police?"

For the record, she said, she never once put her child in a tanning bed. The fair-skinned redhead would lie on towels on the floor, sometimes with a mask over her eyes, while her mother soaked up the UV rays, she said.

At one point, she was offered a plea deal with 60 days of probation and turned it down, deciding she'd take her chances with a jury if it came to that.

"They made a mockery of me,” she said. “But I stood by my beliefs and said, 'I did not do this.'"

Related:

What's caused the N.J. tanning mom's leathery look?

NBCDFW.com / Omar Villafranca

A Texas state lawmaker wants to pass a bill that would make the legal age for using a commercial tanning bed 18.

You have to be 18 to vote, buy a pack of cigarettes or enlist in the military, and a Texas lawmaker wants to add using a tanning bed to the list.

State Rep. John Zerwas has proposed raising the legal age to go into a tanning bed to 18.

Currently, Texans who are younger than 18 but at least 16 and a half years old can tan with a parent's consent. Zerwas' bill would treat tanning like buying a pack a cigarettes -- you must be 18.

The Houston-area lawmaker says his bill would protect young people from future medical issues.

"The evidence is so clear and evident in terms of what the increased risk is for subsequent development of skin cancer, that the bill simply addresses that, under 18, you know, no," he said.

Zerwas said medical experts came to him with the idea for the bill and are now backing the proposed legislation.

"M.D. Anderson [Cancer Center] came to me, and the dermatological society came to me, so there is really a strong consensus around this, at least around the medical community," he said.

The legislation would only affect commercial tanning beds at tanning salons. Zerwas said some tanning salons might fight against the bill.

But not all of them.

Gino Vankuilenburg of Metro Tan in Carrollton told NBC 5 that many of his teen customers now prefer spray-tanning because it's cheaper and faster.

Leslie Lopez, co-owner of The Tan Bar in Dallas said she is seeing an increase in younger customers asking for spray tans.

"I think more kids are becoming more aware of the risks and the results of booths," said Lopez, whose business doesn't offer electric tanning. "Our business has grown since we started."

Lopez said she doesn't offer electric tanning beds to her customers, citing the danger of ultraviolet rays to the skin.

"I think it's long overdue, actually," she said. "We all know what happens to the skin when it goes into a tanning bed -- you could develop melanoma, and people could have prior histories. I just don't think younger [people] should be allowed to do it."

Police have arrested a Texas tanning salon owner they say tried to spy on two girls while they undressed before their tanning session.

Officers arrested Justin Rawlind Bracken, 40, at the Celebrity Tan and Boutique in Frisco on Tuesday.

Officers said two teenage girls, one of them a minor, came forward on two separate occasions and said Bracken tried to watch them undress.

For more, visit NBCDFW.com

“Both girls reported that the owner was looking over the top of the partition into the tanning area,” Frisco Police Sgt. Brad Merritt told CBS 11.

After bonding out of jail, Bracken was back at work on Tuesday. He told NBCDFW.com that the allegations against him are untrue.

"I mean, this is a safe, positive environment," Bracken said. "These incidents are not happening here."

Embattled tanning industry fights back, taking its cues from Big Tobacco

"We just want to let the people of Frisco and surrounding areas know that Celebrity Tan and Boutique is a safe place to be, a safe place to come," he said.

Frisco police said investigators believe there may be additional victims who have not come forward to report their encounter. Police are urging anyone with information about the case to contact the department immediately.

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Yikes!

That’s was the reaction of many of our readers after seeing burnt-to-a-crisp New Jersey mom Patricia Krentcil, who made news after authorities arrested her for taking her 5-year-old daughter to a tanning salon to tan, a claim she denies.

Krentcil does admit that she enjoys tanning -- perhaps a bit too much -- but all those hours in UV light have likely damaged the collagen in Krentcil's skin, causing her leathery, brown visage. 

“That’s a result of chronic exposure, which causes darkening of the skin,” says Dr. Shannon Campbell, clinical assistant professor of general dermatology and cutaneous oncology at The Ohio State University James Cancer Center. 

While many people just desire a bronze color, a tan is actually the body’s way of protecting itself. “Why is she so dark?  Tanning is a protective mechanism that the body has and it is sign of skin damage if the body tans. That explains why her skin is so dark,” says Campbell.

TODAY

New Jersey mom Patricia Krentcil is denying charges of child endangerment after taking her 5-year-old daughter to a tanning salon. But what many msnbc.com readers couldn't help but focus on was her leathery visage.

Collagen, which is in the dermis, the second layer of the skin, gives the skin its elasticity. Collagen keeps skin strong and elastic, but as it lessens due to age or UV damage, the skin sustains cracks or wrinkles. It’s what makes skin pliable and the less one has, the more wrinkles occur. That's what's causing Krentcil to look prematurely aged and leathery (she's 44, but could easily pass as a Golden Girl). 

And tanning — especially indoor tanning — causes more than just hideous looks. Campbell says that people who use tanning beds are 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinomas (BCC). Someone with such a tanning history would also suffer from a weakened immune system (people often develop cold sores after tanning) and an increased chance of getting cataracts and ocular melanoma, a rare and often overlooked eye cancer caused by overexposure to UV light.

Krentcil's excessive tanning has focused attention on "tanorexia," a habit that research indicates can be as addictive as alcohol or smoking. A small study from 2006 found that when people who compulsively sunbathe -- whether in a tanning booth or outdoors -- stop, they can feel withdrawal symptoms from their UV high. And an earlier msnbc.com story reported that many teen girls hit the tanning salon for the first time with mom. Researchers from East Tennessee state University found that nearly 40 percent of young women, ages 18 to 30, who participated in a small study said their first experience with indoor tanning was with their mother.

Whether someone is hooked on rays -- artificial or real -- the World Health Organization classifies ultraviolet radiation as a known carcinogen, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, author of "Your Body Beautiful," told TODAY Thursday. "They put it on the same level as cigarettes, on the same level as plutonium. So it's dangerous."  

But there is hope for Krentcil. If she stops tanning her skin might lighten and different treatments could repair her collagen, leading to a more youthful appearance. Yet, Krentcil will probably always be at higher risk for cancer:

“To a degree the damage has already been done,” Campbell says. 

More from The Body Odd:

• Taking a skin allergy and making it art
• Here's what a lightning strike can do to your skin

Related:
For teens, 'tanorexia' starts with mom
Women with melanoma fare better than men

A New Jersey woman arrested after police said she brought her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth said  Wednesday that she was innocent of the charges but admits to excessive tanning herself.

Patricia Krentcil, 44, pleaded not guilty to second-degree child endangerment and said outside court that she is a "wonderful mother."

Asked whether she admits to excessive tanning, Krentcil said "yes," but insisted she would never subject her red-haired, fair-skinned daughter to the heat of a tanning bed.

The girl, who authorities said suffered a sunburn from the tanning booth, was allowed to stay in the home but is now being monitored by state child welfare workers.

For more, visit NBCNewYork.com

Krentcil insists her daughter was never exposed to the tanning booth's UV rays and instead got slightly sunburned while playing outside on a warm day.

The girl's father told NBC 4 New York that his daughter told classmates at school that she "went tanning with Mommy." He thinks a teacher overheard, inaccurately connected the girl's sunburn to the tanning salon trip and contacted police.

"This whole big thing happened, and everyone got involved," said Rich Krentcil. "It was 85 degrees outside, she got sunburned. That's it. That's all that happened."

Julio Cortez / AP

Patricia Krentcil, left, stands with her lawyer, John Caruso, during a court appearance on charges of child endangerment at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2.

Patricia Krentcil said she treats her tanning salon trips as an errand in which she brings along her daughter, but insists the booth lights were never exposed to the girl.

"It's like taking your daughter to go food shopping," she told NBC 4 New York at her Nutley, N.J. home on Tuesday after being released on $25,000 bail. "There's tons of moms that bring their children in."

"I tan, she doesn't tan," she continued. "I'm in the booth, she's in the room. That's all there is to it."

The incident happened over a week ago, but there did not appear to be any burns on the little girl Tuesday.

Patricia Krentcil said she's been visiting her local salon for more than 10 years, and doesn't know why her visits there with her daughter have suddenly been called into question.

In New Jersey, children under 14 are not allowed to tan at indoor salons, while those 14 to 17 years old may do so with signed parental consent.

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