Yichusdik, you brought up a good point.
I think the answer to your question- “Does anybody realize…” is-
Nobody was really thinking about those implications; either because of the force of their convictions that precluded having any other considerations, or because of simply not bothering to be “ro’eh ess ha’nolad.”
I’m sure many people will want to say it was a case of adhering to ideological convictions, and not negligence or miscalculation.
As for the consequences, hopefully we”ll all be around to see what happens. And hopefully the positive consequences will outweigh any negatives.