UK Anti-Doping Chair David Kenworthy said that the agency's future "would be in jeopardy if they suffered significant government funding cutbacks," according to Toby Davis of REUTERS. Kenworthy said that UKAD had been "warned to expect cuts" of up to 25%, which could result in an end to testing. He said, "UKAD would be in jeopardy if we had large cuts like that because the purpose for which we're here, I'm not sure we could fulfill it properly." Doping is becoming an "increasingly contentious issue with a number of high profile sportsmen and women facing doping claims in the past year." UKAD conducted more than 8,000 tests across 40 sports last year. He added, "Something's got to give so the testing would certainly go. Tests are very expensive. The standard urine sample to be tested costs £371 ($568), the athlete biological passport costs £439 ($672) for each test. I think we'd be almost dead in the water frankly, you can't function on that basis. It would be an appalling cut and appalling waste of our experience that we have built up" (REUTERS, 10/23).
