Acting state Health Department Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said Wednesday morning he would not recommend high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York state.

Zucker unveiled his findings as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cabinet meeting early Wednesday afternoon. While Zucker took pains to point out that the data on long-term impacts of hydrofracking is not fully conclusive, he turned personal in his decision.

“Would I live in a community with HVHF (high-volume hydraulic fracturing) based on the facts I have now?” Zucker said. “Would I let my child play in the school field nearby, or my family drink the water from the tap or grow their vegetables in the soil? After looking at a plethora of reports … my answer is no.”

Cuomo called those comments the most powerful of Zucker’s presentation. The decision comes after 4,500 hours of study by the department, Zucker said. The health review was initially requested in 2012.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will now complete the SEQR process by publishing a final study by early next year, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said.

“I will then issue a legally binding finding statement prohibiting HVHF in New York state at this time,” he said.

Cuomo said earlier in the meeting that he would be bound to whatever the “experts” decided “because I am not in a position to second-guess them with my expertise.”

In a Q&A with reporters at the end of the cabinet meeting, Cuomo said the decision is not political.

“It can’t be political — it’s after the election.” he said.

The question of whether or not to allow hydrofracking has been on the state’s plate since 2008, when then-Gov. David Paterson charged DEC with completing a report on the technique before it could issue permits for drilling. By 2009, DEC had issued a draft report recommending fracking could be allowed with extensive safeguards in place. But amid increasing environmental protests, Paterson in 2010 ordered DEC to complete a second draft of its report, setting a deadline of June 2011.

After Cuomo stepped into office in January 2011, DEC’s second draft again recommended hydrofracking with safeguards in place. But before a final product was released, DEC Commissioner Martens in September 2012 asked the Department of Health, then led by Commissioner Nirav Shah, to review the key chapter on human health impacts. So began a saga that would last until Wednesday, when the Health Department finally unveiled its review.

There have been other key timeline points along the way, perhaps none more important than the state Court of Appeals decision earlier this year to uphold locally passed fracking bans.

There have been a number of local municipalities across the state — even in those that don’t sit on the Marcellus Shale — that have approved resolutions banning of the practice. But there also have been dozens that have resolved to allow hydrofracking within their borders.

Many municipalities would need to approve zoning regulation changes to allow companies to get wells up and running.

The issue has polarized much of the state. The Southern Tier, where gas companies have eyed potentially lucrative wells, has been divided. A July Time Warner Cable News/Siena College poll of registered voters in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes and Catskills/Hudson Valley showed that 51 percent oppose DEC approving hydrofracking, while 35 percent said they want the practice to move forward. Sixty percent of voters in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes said they thought hydrofracking would be an economy booster, and 65 percent thought it would be a job generator.