WASHINGTON – When vapor looks like smoke, and when an 8th grader is holding onto an electronic cigarette in the classroom, heads are going to turn.

The Washington Post wrote last week that e-cigarettes are “beginning to show up in the hallways of the nation’s middle schools and high schools. Just as health officials have begun to debate their potential dangers and school districts have started to pay attention to them, educators are grappling with how to deal with students who are found puffing on e-cigarettes while at school.”

Last week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookahs are quickly gaining popularity among middle- and high-school students. The CDC also suggests that the increase in the use of electronic cigarettes and hookahs could be due to an increase in marketing, availability and visibility of these tobacco products and the perception that they may be safer alternatives to cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to regulate e-cigarettes, saying that it intends to issue a proposed rule that would deem products meeting the statutory definition of a "tobacco product" to be subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

While tobacco products are banned from nearly every U.S. public school, according to the WaPost, the rules are hazy regarding electronic devices. And as more schools report sightings of e-cigarettes on campus grounds, new regulations could follow.

“It’s really new, and it’s popping up, and I think it bears some looking at in terms of offering resources for prevention and particularly for intervention,” Richard Moody, supervisor for student affairs/Safe and Drug-Free Schools in Prince George’s County, told the WaPost, adding, “I think students are just a little naive, and they think it’s harmless when it really isn’t.”

CDC data shows that social use of e-cigarettes among teens is on the rise. CDC figures released in September show that in 2012, an estimated 1.78 million students in middle and high school had tried e-cigarettes, reports the WaPost. And among high schoolers, 10% said they had tried the devices at least once last year, compared to 5% a year prior.

The WaPost reports that Tim McAfee, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in an interview that the agency is “disturbed” by this data.

“I think it is very important for parents, for teachers and for policymakers to be aware of the fact that our children are experimenting with these products,” McAfee, said, describing the popularity of e-cigarettes as “a dangerous situation.”