No
"luck" has nothing to do with cancer


Because of this: "The new research, published in Science, finds that DNA mutations which accumulate throughout the body during cell division are the main reason for the development of cancer. The study suggests that just a third of cancers are the result of environmental factors, poor lifestyle or defective inherited genes." - articles are circulating which suggests cancer is just poor luck.

No, luck has nothing to do with cancer. That's just another way of saying cancer forms all the time, it does and the body usually takes care of it. The problem is that one time when it does not because it lacks the required raw materials.

If it were actually luck then disease rates would not differ that much country to country.

http://www.wcrf.org/int/cancer-facts-figures/data-cancer-frequency-country

But it's not what we see. It's high in rich developed countries and low in poor less developed nations.

highest

lowest

Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (both sexes - World)
1 Denmark 338.1
2 France (metropolitan) 324.6
3 Australia 323.0
4 Belgium 321.1
5 Norway 318.3
6 United States of America 318.0
Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World - Men)
1 France (metropolitan) 385.3
2 Australia 373.9
3 Norway 368.7
4 Belgium 364.8
5 France, Martinique 358.4
6 Slovenia 358.2
7 Hungary 356.1
8 Denmark 354.3
9 United States of America 347.0
10 Czech Republic 345.9
Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World - Women)
1 Denmark 328.8
2 United States of America 297.4
3 Korea, Republic of 293.6
4 The Netherlands 289.6
5 Belgium 288.9
6 Ireland 278.9
7 Australia 278.6
8 Canada 277.4
9 Norway 277.1
10 France (metropolitan) 267.7
11 New Zealand 274.3
Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World - Both sexes)
40 FYR Macedonia 239.3
41 Montenegro 238.3
42 Kazakhstan 236.5
43 Bulgaria 234.8
44 Poland 229.6
45 Romania 224.2
46 Belarus 218.7
47 Cuba 218.0
48 Japan 217.1
49 Argentina 216.7
50 Puerto Rico 211.1
Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World - Men)
41 Trinidad and Tobago 273.5
42 Romania 271.0
43 Poland 269.2
44 Malta 267.7
45 FYR Macedonia 265.5
46 Montenegro 262.7
47 France, Guadeloupe 260.9
48 Bulgaria 260.5
49 Japan 260.4
50 Turkey 257.8
Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World - Women)
39 Kazakhstan 216.7
40 Argentina 211.8
41 Zimbabwe 209.1
42 Latvia 206.5
43 Poland 205.6
44 Estonia 202.7
45 Singapore 198.7
46 Cyprus 198.2
47 Spain 198.1
48 Portugal 198.1
49 Kenya 196.6
50 Mauritius 193.9
It's lot "luck" that poor countries have 1/3 less cancer.

The lowest on this list is nearly half of the highest, and if you poke around you can find the rate in Morocco is one half of even that (~100).

This, again, is not because of "luck". It's diet.

Stats source: Source: Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11 [Internet]. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2013. Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr, accessed on 13/12/2013.