For priming PE, I'm using Gunze Mr. Metal Primer. Its a transparent etching primer, so I follow that with some Tamiya Grey Primer just to make sure everything looks right before the paint goes on. It works great. The times I have had to remove a little bit of paint from a PE piece that was primed with that, it actually took a little bit of effort to remove...rather than just falling off like it normally would.
You definitely want to use it in a well-ventilated area and limit the amount of time you have the bottle open. The fumes aren't obnoxious fumes that spread through the whole room or anything, but they're a stronger version of what comes off of CA...really makes your eyes burn if you keep the bottle open for too long and are sitting right next to it.