The law adopted by French Parliament aiming to "lift constraints on exercising the profession of farmer" has racked up several firsts. Ahead of the first reading in the Assemblée Nationale, it had been rejected by its own supporters without debate, in a paradoxical parliamentary maneuver intended to speed up its eventual adoption earlier this month. The so-called Duplomb Law is now the subject of the first citizens' petition to surpass the 500,000 signature mark on the Assemblée Nationale's website (and over 1.2 million by Monday morning), a threshold that opens the possibility for a debate in the Assemblée, when it returns to work in September.

Launched by 23-year-old student Eléonore Pattery, the petition calling for the Duplomb Law's repeal has achieved unprecedented success, shattering all previous records. Created on July 10, just two days after the Assemblée Nationale definitively adopted the bill, the initiative emerged from outside of typical activist and NGO circles. Pattery, who has declined to express herself in the media, said on her social media accounts that she is not affiliated with any political party. Through the petition, she said she had sought to denounce what she and the million other signatories consider to be the "scientific, ethical, environmental and public health aberration" embodied by the new law.

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