WA vapers may unwittingly break law

E-cigarette users in Western Australia may be unwittingly consuming nicotine and break the law in the process, a parliamentary committee says.

E-cigarettes that contain liquid nicotine are banned around the nation, and in WA, it is illegal to supply non-nicotine e-cigarettes that resemble a tobacco product.

Perversely, using non-nicotine e-cigarettes is legal in WA but they have to be sourced, along with flavoured liquid "vaping" cartridges, from elsewhere.

"How can they be confident they are getting what they ordered in this unregulated market? It is known anecdotally that cartridges which say they do not contain nicotine do in fact contain nicotine," the committee said in a report released on Thursday.

"Furthermore, users may be blissfully unaware that it is illegal to sell or use nicotine-based e-cigarettes."

The committee said as long as it remained illegal to supply e-cigarette products, manufacturing quality and the safety of products would remain an issue of concern.

They recommended Health Minister Roger Cook report back with any considerations he had given to regulating the products.